


Bad People Are Often Luckier Than Good Ones

by oputina



Category: Gintama
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 02:23:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20283835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oputina/pseuds/oputina
Summary: Weeks after his arrival in Edo, Hijikata finds a man sitting in the snow.—Instead of meeting Otose at the graveyard after escaping jail, Gintoki stumbles his way to the Roshigumi/Shinsengumi by mistake.





	Bad People Are Often Luckier Than Good Ones

__Hijikata cursed Sougo as he stomped all around the yard. Snow melted into his socks, thoroughly soaking them and numbing his feet with cold. The brat had done something with his prized katana and challenged him to find it. _ Challenge, my ass, _ Hijikata thought furiously. _ He’s about to find it in his own gut for messing with me._

That’s when he found the man curled by the opening in the stone wall around the dojo. 

The snow came down relentlessly, silently and suffocating despite being lighter than what it had been before. Hijikata looked up at the heavens pouring snowflakes from above, squinting as several bits clung onto his eyelashes. He looked back down at the huddled figure. “Hey, you alive?”

There was no response at first. Then, the man slowly uncurled himself and looked up at Hijikata with dull red eyes. As he moved, snow fell out of his white mop of hair. “Probably, I think,” he replied, speech slightly slurred.

Hijikata scoffed and began to unravel his scarf. “What kinda answer is that? Are you moping here ‘cause you got your heart broken or something?”

The mysterious man coughed. “Something like that.”

“Well, it’s not an excuse to freeze to death in such a random spot.” Hijikata draped his scarf around the man’s neck, taking note of how little he was wearing. “Come inside for a bit.” He extended his hand.

The white-haired guy looked surprised. He looked from Hijikata’s face to his hand and back again. “You’re being weirdly nice to a suspicious stranger, you know?”

“Making sure someone doesn’t die from hypothermia is the least a decent person could do,” Hijikata said. “‘Sides, it’s kinda my job.”

The man only hesitated for a moment more before grasping Hijikata’s cool palm with his icy fingers and pulling himself to his feet. It became apparent after a second that he was in no condition to walk, and he resigned himself to being propped up by Hijikata as they made their way into the building.

The warm glow from the light inside was caught by their faces. But when Hijikata glanced over at the man, only the bitter chill of the wintery sky were reflected in his dark eyes.

•••

“You’re lucky you probably won’t have to lose any fingers, considering how long you were out there.”

The man—named Gintoki, apparently—looked away briefly from the fireplace he was hunched over. “Lucky, huh?” 

“Yeah.” Hijikata peeled his wet socks off, grimacing at the feeling. “Wanna give me a story? What the hell got you so beat up?” He added, taking note of the heavy bruising and lacerations all along his face, neck, and what was exposed of his chest. It was likely that there was more underneath his thin yukata or silver—not white—curls.

Gintoki paused, complentative, and spoke. “Got into a fight with an...edgy midget over some drinks. He was obsessed with this dumb drink, Yakulk, and I said no, strawberry milk is clearly better; so we went on a quest to collect the seven mystical wigs to summon the wish-granting dragon, er, Zura, to tell us which one was truly better. These wounds are all from fighting epic intergalactic battles while we were on our journey.” He finished his story with a gesture at his bruise-mottled torso.

_ The guy’s surprisingly talkative now that he’s out of the snow, _ Hijikata mused as he moved to hang up his socks over the fire and take his kiseru from where it rested above the fireplace. “You could’ve just said you didn’t wanna share.”

“I would’ve felt bad,” Gintoki gave him a lazy grin. “I feel like I have to answer everything my generous host asks me.”

“You should feel bad instead for telling me such a stupid story.”

“Hey! I was trying to be nice!”

“How is that being nice? And weren’t you just copying the plot of Dragon Ball?!”

“Huh? Dragon Ball? I don’t know anything about that! I have no idea who Goku and Vegeta are!”

“I didn’t say anything about Goku or Vegeta! Did the snow make you stupid-sick or are you always like this?”

“I don’t wanna hear anything about sickness from a guy who’s breathing in cancer as we speak!”

Hijikata huffed and moved his pipe away from his mouth self-consciously. It was an unfortunate new habit he’d picked up over the past few weeks since arriving in Edo, but he found it helpful in dealing with the stress of being in such a new setting...and with his relentless guilt of leaving Mitsuba. 

He glared at Gintoki, annoyed. “You’re clearly a lot livelier now. When the snow clears up, you can leave and go back to wherever you live.”

Before Gintoki could respond, the door rattled and slid open. The face of a young boy poked in, red eyes staring at Hijikata.

He let out a disappointed sigh. “You’re still alive?”

Hijikata huffed. “What’s that supposed to mean, Sougo?”

“Did none of the landmines go off? Damn…”

“_ Landmines _? You sadistic brat, what the hell are you trying to do?!”

Sougo deadpanned. “Isn’t it obvious, Hijikata-san? Hurry up and die already. Since my plan didn’t work, suck up more of that poison gas into your lungs, quickly.”

Hijikata threw his kiseru at the brunette, who dodged easily. Gintoki let out a short laugh.

“I’ve never seen such a vicious kid before. What’d you do to him, Hitikaja-kun?”

Sougo, expression still deadpan, turned to look at Gintoki. “Who’s this guy, Hitikaja-san? Is he a criminal?”

Hijikata’s fingers twitched. He wished he had his kiseru still to both take a hit and throw at either one of the two annoyances in his room. “Hijikata is my name, dumbass. And he’s not a criminal...probably. He’s just...leaving soon.”

“That sounds suspicious,” Sougo said. “If he’s not a new recruit for the Roshigumi you’d better throw him out fast. This place isn’t a homeless shelter.”

“Roshigumi?” Gintoki suddenly looked much more alert, the flickering fire reflected deep within his eyes.

“Yeah. We’re pretty new around here, so we’re not that widely known...but we’re basically here to deal with crime.” Hijikata took notice of the silver-haired man’s rigid position. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, no…” Gintoki looked as if he was forcing himself to relax. “Just…didn’t realize you were with the law.”

Before Hijikata could process the deeper implication of Gintoki’s words, Sougo cleared his throat and there was clanking as he gave Hijikata a glimpse of his katana, grasped firmly within the younger man’s hand. “Well, I guess I’ll have to come up with something else now. I wonder if it’s easier to break this thing on a rock or Hijikata-san’s skull?”

“Sougo!” Hijikata lunged at the door, but Sougo disappeared quicker than a flash. He made to chase after him, but hesitated as he remembered that he had a guest in his room.

“Erm...Gintoki. If you don’t feel well, you may stay. But it’s best if you leave when you can.” Unsure of what else to say, Hijikata quickly closed the door and continued in his pursuit of the frustration that was Okita Sougo.

There hasn’t been any cases Hijikata could help with during the day, but at least he helped save some poor, innocent soul from freezing to death. Hijikata certainly felt content about his good deed. By morning Gintoki would be gone and Hijikata would rest assured that he’d helped save a life for once instead of having to take one.

**Author's Note:**

> i haven’t written in a while, hopefully it’s not too noticeable and the characters aren’t too OOC. i’m excited to introduce some more conflict into the story! please let me know what you think :)


End file.
